Vatican cool to German challenge to divorce rule

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VATICAN CITY — The Vatican put a German diocese on notice Tuesday that it disapproves of its challenge to church teaching on whether Catholics who remarry can receive Communion, saying the issue will be discussed by the whole church at a meeting next year of the world’s bishops.

The diocese of Freiburg issued an official set of guidelines this week explaining how such divorced and remarried Catholics could receive the sacrament. It said if certain criteria are met — if the couple was trying to live according to the faith and acted with laudable motivation — they could receive Communion and other sacraments of the church.

Church teaching holds that Catholics who do not have their first marriage annulled, or declared null by a church tribunal, before remarrying cannot participate fully in the church’s sacraments because they are essentially committing adultery. The issue has vexed the Vatican for decades and has left generations of Catholics feeling shunned by their church.

Annulments are often difficult, if not impossible, to obtain, and can take years to process when they do come through.

But the Vatican said Tuesday that Freiburg’s local initiative ‘‘risks causing confusion.’’

It said the issue will be discussed in 2014 at a major meeting of bishops that was announced Tuesday. And in a polite but unsubtle jab at Freiburg’s action, the Vatican issued a reminder that it was ‘‘important to undertake such a path in the full communion of the church community.’’

Pope Francis has said the issue must be addressed and has hinted that the Catholic Church might follow the lead of Orthodox Christians, who allow those in similar situations to receive Communion. The accommodation would be in keeping with Francis’ message of the church being merciful and inclusive.